Coming in to Luxembourg, the pilot said that the airport was queueing incoming flights because of dense fog; we spent 30 minutes orbiting the airport then did a “failed approach” landing attempt, circled some more and finally landed.

However cynical we may be about government, it’s hard to match the cynicism inside government. But, when I think about history, I remind myself that the really enthusiastic governments were also the most dangerous. When I started doing stuff at the White House it was exciting and glamorous for a little while.

Recent discussion about pickling and canning [stderr] reminded me that it’s time to more closely research the history of the technique. In its time, it was a tremendously important military technology.

We bought the farm in 2002, and moved up from the ‘far suburbs’ of Baltimore. The farm came with a bunch of stuff in mostly-workable condition: baler, rake, hay cutter/bind, and a 1974 Belarus MtZ572 tractor. We had horses to feed, so there was hay to cut, and the place had been going to seed for a decade – there was a great deal of bushhogging to be done, and the tractor came with a 10′ deck bush hog.

Back in 1992, I was on a project in New Jersey, and had some free time, so I took my camera-bag and my rental car and just … wandered in … to one of the big powerplants on the New Jersey side of the Hudson. There was no security at the gate, no security at the building, and the place was gigantic.

A friend of mine just had some open heart surgery (isn’t modern medicine amazing!?) and is recovering nicely. His wife is a great and brilliant artist with a fantastic memory, and she recalled a discussion we’d once had about Fentanyl…